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One of the UK's largest invoice finance broker providing small and medium sized businesses access to traditional and more modern forms of finance. Our team can provide you with confidential, no obligation advice - and the best bit, our service is free.

One of the UK's largest invoice finance broker providing small and medium sized businesses access to traditional and more modern forms of finance. Our team can provide you with confidential, no obligation advice - and the best bit, our service is free.

Cashflow Funding - Funding Circle's new funding round will value the London FinTech startup at $1bn

Funding Circle is on the verge of closing a new round of #funding which would value the London FinTech startup at more than $1bn (£674m) and see it join just a handful of UK tech companies with billion-dollar valuations. #factoring#invoicediscounting

The British Business Bank has this week unveiled its new ENABLE Guarantee programme, which is designed to incentivise participating banks to lend more to smaller businesses by reducing the capital they need to hold to support such lending.

The scheme’s first transaction, with Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks, is forecast to provide £125m of new lending to new and growing companies.

Up to £50m will be set aside for products and industries the banks have not previously covered such as cash flow lending for small firms, automotive tooling finance and renewables finance.

A recent British Business Bank report claims it is working with up to 80 partners across the UK to help small businesses gain access to funding.

Almost three-quarters (70 per cent) of the funding it has secured for SMEs to date has been delivered by banks outside the ‘big four’.

Keith Morgan, CEO of the British Business Bank, is encouraged by the “scaling up” of the nation’s efforts to underpin growing SMEs.

“Our ENABLE programme represents a significant scaling up of our firepower in making finance markets work better,” said Morgan.

“The funding unlocked by the programme will make a real difference to smaller UK businesses.

“We welcome the additional lending and choice of products that Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks will bring to the market under this first transaction.”

Vince Cable, secretary of state for Business, Innovation and Skills, added: “I set up the British Business Bank to give small businesses access to alternative finance schemes that were badly needed.

“It is delivering and is supporting £1.8 billion of finance to over 43,000 smaller businesses.

“This new guarantee programme will make it easier for challenger banks to lend to small businesses and help to accelerate the transformation of UK banking into a more dynamic and competitive marketplace.”

More than three quarters of businesses suffer from late #payments, according to research by Bacs.

The payment company, which is responsible for clearing millions of electronic transactions each day, reveals that 76% of British businesses are affected by late payments of more than 1 month beyond the agreed contract terms.

In companies suffering from late payments:

20% of directors have taken pay cuts26% use their overdrafts23% are paying their suppliers late.Mike Hutchinson, spokesperson for Bacs, said:

"The ongoing issue of late payments means that businesses across the UK are facing some tough choices about how to use the cash available to them. They are concentrating on keeping their own businesses afloat rather than paying suppliers, and so the vicious circle continues."

Late payment costing SMEs billions

The figures reveal that SMEs are currently owed £32.4 billion in late payments, down from £39.4 billion in January 2014.

However, the number of SMEs that are negatively affected by late payments has only fallen slightly - from 60% in January 2014 to 59% in 2015.

SMEs also face around £8.2 billion in additional annual costs that are directly related to late payments. This equates to £677 a month for each firm. Almost two thirds of this money (63%) is spent on administration, which costs businesses £5.2billion each year.

Phil Orford, chief executive of the Forum of Private Business, said:

"Being paid late or having to deal with longer payment times can severely hamper any business, large or small. Alarmingly, this culture of late payment has a ripple effect down the whole supply chain with many small firms admitting to paying their suppliers late due to business liquidity issues created by outstanding payments."

*Crowdfunding - #Crowdfunding held back by ‘ignorance’, says peer-to-peer lender

Ignorance about crowdfunding and the ‘public aversion to risk’ are holding back investment in small and medium-sized firms, according to peer-to-peer lender ArchOver

Brian Basham, head of ArchOver and former PR adviser to British Airways, said: ‘Willingness to invest increases markedly when crowdfunding is understood.’ArchOver found that 59 per cent of consumers do not know what crowdfunding is – bringing individuals together to lend direct to borrowers. #funding

The acquisition is for an initial cash consideration of £5m, with the fee potentially rising to £8.5m depending on financial performance.

There will be no job losses or restructing at Eddisons, as a result of the acquistion.

Anthony Spencer, executive director of Eddisons, said: “We are retaining our brand identity and will operate as a discrete business within the combined Group, whilst taking advantage of the opportunities represented by being part of a significant, financially robust, national business.”

Headquartered in Leeds, Eddisons was founded in 1844 and has around 200 full-time employees.

Companies in the office cleaning industry usually begin life as small, owner managed and operated enterprises. The owners of these companies tend to be ambitious go-getters who are big on enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit but short on working capital. The potential for growth is limited only by the ability of business owners to maintain sufficient cash flow from customers paying their invoices on time.

How we can help your cleaning business - free of charge:

1. We search and compare all the UK’s Cleaning Business lenders, this saves your time.2. There are no obligations to choose any of the lenders we provide3. You will not be judged on your historical data as required for a bank loan so companies with adverse data more than welcome.4. Construction packages put your needs first in a speedy manner.5. Our service is totally free to use so you have nothing to lose expect a phone call.